


Pleasures of Simplicity

by spookyawards_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-09-12
Updated: 2003-09-12
Packaged: 2019-04-27 06:03:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14419203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyawards_archivist/pseuds/spookyawards_archivist
Summary: It had took one person to open her eyes to the things she had always taken for granted. Seeing the world through his eyes had been like being reborn.





	Pleasures of Simplicity

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Spooky Awards](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Spooky_Awards), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [SpookyAwards' collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/spookyawards/profile).

 

Pleasures of Simplicity

## Pleasures of Simplicity

### by Foxhunt2blue

Title: Pleasures of Simplicity  
Author: Foxhunt2blue  
Summary: It had took one person to open her eyes to the things she had always taken for granted. Seeing the world through his eyes had been like being reborn. Rated: PG-13  
Keywords: MSR  
Spoilers: Small ones from the "Pilot" to "all things" Disclaimer: Never did---wish I had though. ;-) Author's Note: This one is for Sallie. Godspeed and hang in there sweetie---what doesn't destroy us makes us stronger and you my dear are a strong light among so many. Hugs and prayers go with these simple words. 

* * *

It's always strange how children can't wait to grow to adulthood---constantly in a hurry to be something they believe will be so much better. When they finally get there they wish they were children again. 

Somewhere along the way they lose what can only be called magic, but maybe it's something else. 

As she grew older she was no different than any other kid. There were the spats over curfews, the arguments over college, boyfriends, and ultimately over who she was. Breaking her parents hearts had just been one of many things she had done to prove the difference between who she was and who they thought she had been. 

Along the way she had lost something she hadn't even realized was gone until she walked into a dark, musty basement office. 

She had heard the stories about "Spooky", but they were just that stories---urban legends in their own way. 

For a professional to believe any of them was less than educated and inappropriate for a agent of the federal government. 

Old "Spooky" was nothing like she had imagined. In light of the stories she had formed an image of a wild-eyed man on the edge of insanity. A mussed and wrinkled suit with the crumbs of lunches past clinging to a crumpled tie. Someone who was a blathering nut who should have been put to pasture, but that the FBI didn't want running loose. Why else would he be lurking in the shadows of the basement. 

What she found was a far cry from that. 

Maybe she had fallen in love with him in that moment when a rich, honey warm voice called out from behind a closed door. 

<No one down here but the FBI's most unwanted!>

Or maybe it was when she saw a beautiful, young man---shirt sleeves rolled up---with golden eyes that matched that voice. The room's dim light reflecting off the glasses that sat perched on a slightly large nose and a errant strand of dark silken hair that hung over a broad forehead. These simple things were enough to convince her he was handsome, but was he smart? 

A smart alec was more like it. 

He had wasted no time in letting her know who was in charge. Somewhere between that moment and a nonplussed look over Oregon---in turbulence---she had been drawn into his spell. Intrigued and fascinated by the way his mind worked. 

No, it hadn't been just her professional mind he had intrigued---it had been that tiny spark. A spark inside her that had died away with her childhood. 

There were moments in those first few days together that she had wanted to walk away. How could a man believe in little green men? 

Flying saucers, she had thought with a groan. It was like some bad plot from an Ed Wood movie. 

But then she had saw the marks---so similar to those on the victims---and it didn't seem so farfetched. 

They had ended up in his hotel room, her sprawled across his bed and him sitting in the floor. For some reason he had began to talk and the floodgates began to open. 

In that candle lit room with the rain spattering against the windows a love affair began. 

Suddenly she began to see things through the eyes of a believer. A sweet soul that still possessed the limitless vision to see beyond what every adult knew was the truth. A belief that was so powerful it lifted her up on a tidal wave of dreams and nightmares. 

No longer was the monster in the closet a thing of the past or of a child's imagination. The monsters were real---more real than she had ever known. 

* * *

As the days melted into months, then into years she began to realize how precious the innocence of her youth had been. 

Despite all the darkness they faced, all the evil, and the laughter of their colleagues she began to live for the little things. 

The sound of her mom's voice as she related her newest project with her church group or Missy's latest new age escapade. 

The feel of cool spring air blowing through her hair, the scent of fresh green sprouts and moist rich earth filling her senses. 

At some point those little things began to include her partner. Things she had never noticed before or were annoying, now made her heart grow lighter. 

It was these things that kept her going when it got to be the worst. 

The sparkle of mischief in his warm hazel eyes as he pounced on her with another wild case. Then the soft, sensual pout of his lower lip when she chastised him for believing in things that weren't scientifically possible. 

There was the way he lost himself in research---reading glasses perched on the tip of his nose---as he popped sunflower seeds. 

And of all her favorites there were the endless bad and sometimes morbid jokes. He always seemed to pull them out of thin air with a dramatic flair that deserved a little gold Oscar. Amazing how many smiles he managed to pull from her---even when she felt exhausted. 

* * *

All these little things filled her life with a light, a faith that her logical mind fought. No matter how hard that part of her tried to fight it only seemed to accomplish a momentary victory. 

Not that she was complaining. 

She remembered another of those moments that had made her move closer to that spark of joy. 

A hallway after the fight of her life. 

In his arms she had found comfort---a small pleasure, but neither the less a pleasure. 

The warmth of his body so close to hers. His scent---a mixture of leather, soap, and male musk---filling her body with a need that it was still to weak to feed. She knew then that she could never truly leave this man no matter how hard her logic told her too. 

To hell with logic. 

* * *

Her body healed with time and the special magic that only one other heart in the world possessed. 

Sure they had rough patches through their time together, yet still they stood proud. Only once had she really allowed herself to lose faith in their future. 

Again it was a hallway. 

This time her heart was breaking as she looked into his eyes seeing the raw pain as he spilled his heart out. The moment she felt his breath against her face she knew she was a fool. She wasn't given the time to tell him though. 

When she finally came back to herself they were in world of trouble. Confusion and chaos kept her from giving it much thought---her head swimming---as he grabbed her hand, dragging her across the snow and ice. 

Even in that desolate moment as he passed out in the snow she found tiny pleasures. 

The rise and fall of his chest beneath her numb hands. 

The weak, but steady sound of his heart beneath her ear as she whispered softly to him. 

* * *

What hadn't broke them had made them stronger. 

Even after all their enemies had pulled out their darkest plots, their most twisted weapons she still saw the light gleaming in his beautiful eyes. All they had managed to do was make the stubborn child in him rear it's nasty little head. 

She found simple pleasure in his stubbornness. 

At some point she fell in love with not just the simple pleasures she found in his personality, but with the man himself. All those tiny things over the years had built-up into a snowball of desire that even the logical doctor she was could no longer deny. 

The silly grin on his face as he sang happy birthday to her all those years ago. One lonely cupcake topped by a sparkler sitting between them as he handed her a small gift box. 

Arms wrapped around him as he shivered in the Florida Everglades while she sang off key. His hopes dashed when it didn't rain sleeping bags. 

A lonely rock at the edge of a lake---his sarcastic humor helping to pass the time as they awaited a rescue they hadn't really needed. 

His smile wide as he snatched a bite of her tofutti dreamsicle on a warm Saturday afternoon. That same night standing beneath a million stars flickering like diamond chips on black velvet. His joy burning just as bright as he taught her baseball---his arms around her and their fingers interlaced over the smooth wood of a Louisville Slugger. 

She had never reminded him that she was a tomboy with two brothers. Baseball was the way he had related to her what he could never say out loud. 

How had she lived before those moments? 

If she were honest with herself the answer was simple. 

She hadn't. 

* * *

The final battle had been with the past. 

Though she was unsure what she sought on the outside, the soul she had repressed for so long knew. It had been on a warm early summer night as they sat together over two cold beers that the child within her had tired of playing. 

The brush of his lips on her forehead had woke her, but she lay still waiting. He had been the perfect gentleman as he allowed her to stay were she had fallen asleep---his favorite blanket wrapped gently around her. Lights turned out, door locked, and he had left the room, retiring to his own bed alone. 

She had never intended for it to happen this way. 

Even though she had been sure she would leave---she didn't. 

Stripping off her clothes she slipped between the sheets as he slept. There were no dramatic confessions of love and forever as most romance writers would have you believe. Laying quietly on her stomach next to him---head resting on folded arms---she watched him sleep. 

The heat of his breath and body warming her to the core of her being. After what seemed hours she found the courage to reach out, brushing his hair from his closed eyes. Her fingers traced a gentle path along his jaw to those full soft lips where they settled. 

That was when he kissed her fingers. 

For a moment she thought she had imagined it, but then his eyes drifted open. Honey-gold in the dim light that played across the tangled sheets. The same color they had been at their first meeting. 

"Now?" 

A simple question with only one answer. 

It had took one person to open her eyes to the things she had always taken for granted. Seeing the world through his eyes had been like being reborn. 

Reborn in not just a physical, but a spiritual way. 

Had she chose another path she would have never discovered the pleasures of simplicity. 

"Now," she whispered back. One leg sliding over his hip she smiled. "We've wasted to much time already." 

His answer was a gentle smile as he took her in his arms. 

The End   
  


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